Voters in Austria are casting their ballot in a general election that could see the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) secure a victory amid voter concerns over the economy and immigration.
Polling booths opened on Sunday at 7am (05:00 GMT) and were due to close at 7pm (17:00 GMT).
More than 6.3 million people aged 16 and above are eligible to vote for the new parliament, with analysts predicting the far right to narrowly beat the governing conservatives. The FPO has been outpolling the governing centre-right Austrian People’s Party (OVP) and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) for the past year, partly driven by opposition to immigration.
The FPO, which topped several pre-election opinion polls, has been in government several times but has never won a national vote. Should they win though, it is still uncertain whether it would be able to form a government.
Since sharp-tongued Herbert Kickl took over the corruption-tainted party in 2021, it has seen its popularity rebound on voter anger over migration, inflation and COVID restrictions, in line with far-right parties elsewhere in Europe.
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